The White House is pushing Harvard for a major financial settlement in negotiations to restore more than $2 billion in frozen funds, according to a person familiar with the talks — and demanding that Harvard cough up even more than Columbia University did earlier this week.

The university chose cooperation over litigation, a strategy both pilloried and praised.

For years, under Democratic administrations, the federal government has threatened severe financial sanctions against universities that did not comply with bureaucratic regulations.

The administration is in talks with several universities, including Cornell, Duke, Northwestern and Brown, the person told WSJ, though it sees striking a deal with Harvard as a key target.

Columbia University has struck a deal with the Trump administration to restore federal research funding in exchange for a $200 million settlement and other concessions.

The administration pulled the funding because of what it described as the university’s failure to squelch antisemitism on campus during the Israel-Hamas war.